Baltimore Orioles' Anthony Santander hits 40th home run in 12-3 loss to Boston
Anthony Santander belted his 40th home run but the Baltimore Orioles suffered a 12-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday in the first game of the three-game series in Fenway Park.
Rob Refsnyder homered twice among his four hits and had a career-high five RBIs, Tyler O'Neill also had two homers for the Red Sox.
Ceddanne Rafaela had two hits and four RBIs as the Red Sox finished with 15 hits.
Refsnyder and O'Neill hit back-to-back homers in both the third and eighth innings. It was Refsnyder's second career multi-homer game and O'Neil's 12th — including his seventh this season to tie Jordan Alvarez for most in the majors. It was the ninth time Boston batters have hit back-to-back homers this season.
Boston starter Brayan Bello (13-7) gave up two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked five, struck out five and hit a batter. Josh Winckowski gave up a run in the final three innings to get his second save of the season.
Orioles left-hander Cade Povich (2-8) allowed four runs and five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Anthony Santander homered and drove in all three runs for Baltimore. He got his 40th home run of the season leading off the seventh, reaching that mark for the first time in his eight-year career. He is the eighth Orioles player to do so, and the first since Mark Trumbo in 2016.
The Orioles took the lead in the first inning as lead-off hitter Gunnar Henderson doubled and scored on a one-out single by Santander.
The Red Sox tied it in the bottom of the inning when Rafael Devers singled, advanced to third on Refsnyder's double and scored on O'Neill's groundout.
In the third inning, after Baltimore center fielder Cedric Mullins made a nifty diving catch on leadoff hitter Jarren Duran's scorched liner, Devers singled and Refsnyder hit his 10th homer of the season to straightaway center field. O'Neill followed with his 28th homer of the season, over the left field wall to make it 4-1.
The Orioles added a run in the fourth, loading the bases without getting a hit. Colton Cowser led off with a walk, followed by a one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Livan Soto and Mullins hit by a pitch with two outs. Santander also walked, forcing in a run.
The Red Sox sent nine batters to the plate in the sixth, with four scoring. Romy Gonzalez and Connor Wong opened with consecutive singles against reliever Burch Smith. Danny Jansen was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for No. 9 hitter Rafaela, who singled to center to drive in two runs. After Devers' two-out single, Refsnyder's two-run single to center pushed the lead to 8-2.
Rafaela's had a two-out, two-run double, and Refsnyder and O'Neil hit consecutive homers again in the eighth to complete the scoring.
Up Next
Orioles RHP Albert Suárez (7-5, 3.49 ERA) starts against Red Sox RHP Kutter Crawford (8-13, 4.08) on Tuesday.
